A ‘significant’ proportion of children and young people have a profound lack of trust in the police, with some fearing officers, according to an 18-month inquiry by an all-party group of MPs.
The report by the parliamentary group for children says that encounters between the police and children are often characterised by poor and unconstructive communication and a lack of mutual respect, with young people frequently treated as ‘small adults’ by officers rather than as children.
The MPs’ report, written with the support of the National Children’s Bureau, shows that arrests of under-18s have fallen by 59% over the last five years to 129,274 in England and Wales in 2013, including 11,369 arrests of children under 14.
But despite this sharp decline the MPs report that for a ‘significant’ proportion of those who have contact with the police, the experience is a negative one.
They cite examples of children as young as five being stopped and searched, six-year-olds being present during a police raid on their home, and being pinned to the ground face down for setting off fireworks at age 12. Stop-and-search was cited as a particular source of friction.
“The inquiry heard that children do not believe that the police are there to protect them, often feel humiliated by the police and are concerned that the police target and undermine them. Further evidence cited the fear that children and young people can feel towards the police, which as children get older, often turns into frustration and anger, and ultimately a complete breakdown of trust in police officers,” the report said.
The evidence for the claim that young people, including victims, who have had direct contact with the police tend to have a more negative view of the police than those who have had no contact at all, rests partly on a 2010 survey of 3,500 children cited by Katy Bourne, the Sussex police and crime commissioner.
This showed that younger children who had had less contact with the police viewed them far more positively than older children who had had more contact with the police.
The MPs report that some police forces do mount exemplary initiatives to improve relationships between young people and the police but these positive approaches are not reflected across the country. These initiatives include: working hard to listen to and engage with young people, and treating them as children first and foremost in all aspects of policing.
The report also found evidence that children who had been trafficked or suffered sexual abuse experience a postcode lottery when it comes to the treatment they receive from the police.
Baroness Massey of Darwen, the chair of the all-party group, said: “Too often children and young people are seen by the police as ‘small adults’, with insufficient regard for their distinct needs. It is critical that in every encounter with the police, under-18s are treated as children first, with all officers having regard to their welfare, safety and wellbeing.”
Anna Feuchtwang of the National Children’s Bureau, which runs the secretariat for the all-party group, added: “This inquiry shines a much-needed light on how the police interact with children; it is clear from the evidence that there is an urgent need for a new approach, which should have a child-centred outlook at its core.”
